The Samnite Wars

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Samnite Wars were a series of military conflicts fought in the period between 343-290 BC by the Roman Republic and theSamnite Confederacy. The last great war between Rome and an major Italic power the Samnite conflict resulted in the Republicgaining dominion over nearly all of Southern Italy.

At the same time as Philippos II of Makedon was gaining his dominion over Hellas trouble arose in Southern Italy. By the 340s BC the startlingly quick recovery of the Roman Republic from the horrific Sack of Rome by the Gallic Celts had forced many of the Italic tribes in the southern half of the peninsula into alliances or confederacies for mutual protection from Rome. The greatest of these was theSamnite Confederacy, formed by the Oscan and Sabellian mountain tribes of what would later be called Samnium in their honor. In the search for more fertile land to raise their crops and tend their livestock the Samnites, in conjunction with their Lucanian and Bruttiicousins, launched an invasion of the rich lowlands. Both Italic Campania and the Hellenic colonies of Megale Hellas were threatened by this invasion. The Samnites focused upon the city-states of Campania and achieved great success against the unwarlike lowlanders. When the great city of Capua and the allied Hellenic city of Neapolis suddenly found themselves in danger of falling into Samnite hands the Campanians, in desperation, called for aid from Rome.

The Social War

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Social War, waged from 91 to 88 BC, was one of the most politically important conflicts in the history of the Roman Republic. While the actual war did not last long the events which it brought about changed the Republic forever.

Rome’s Italic citizens were tired of being excluded from politics. By the 1st Century BC the Roman Republic had won an empire that stretched from Asia Minor to the Pillars of Hercules. But the Romans alone had not won that empire, her former enemies the Italicpeoples had as well. Though officially citizens of the Republic the Italics had been deprived of the right to vote, and hence they had no say in the politics of their state. In 91 BC one politician sought to change all that. Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger, the son of the man of the same name who opposed Caius Sempronius Gracchus a few decades before, introduced radical legislation. He proposed to give Rome’s Italic citizens full voting rights. In reality the younger Drusus, like his father, was an Optimate (conservative) disguised as a Populare (liberal). His plan was to use his powers as a tribune to shore up the Optimate cause with new voters who would side with the conservatives to preserve the peace of the Republic from the more radical Populares.However his plan backfired.

Battles: Romans on 0 A.D.

The Samnite Wars

The Social War